Portrait lighting setup

I my previous post I showed you a few portraits that I’m still working on and Moritz from Germany asked in his comment if I could share my lighting setups.

I decided to show a specific setup for every single one with a scheme and short explanation.

This is three lights setup… a combination of two strobes and a neon light. Strobe on the right side had a small DIY grid attached and I used it to light up a face. A neon light from above was really dimmed so I set the exposure to match it and then I was adjusting my strobes. If I remember well, back strobe was on a half power and strobe with the grid was on 1/4 of a power.

 

This one is really simple. One strobe with small grid attached and moved far away from subject so I could light up almost a complete figure but without unwanted spill over the scene.

 

As well as the previous one, simple one light setup. It was hard to match a color balance between strobe and light bulbs so I had to correct it in post production. I used silver bounce umbrella as a light modifier. Light stand was some two meters away from subject and that is why light is a bit harder.

 

Also a one light setup. Strobe is hidden behind the door and my idea was to mimic a day light coming from the other room.

 

Two strobes. Back one is bare bulb (without modifier) and front one had small grid attached. Front strobe was hidden behind supporting beam. This tunnel is a very narrow space so I had to be careful with the strobe power. Front one was on the lowest setting (1/16 of a power) and back one was 1/4 of a power.

 

This is two lights setup but with combination of window light. Front one with a grid and back one bare bulb.

 

One light. I tried to boost a window light with it.

 

This one is also a one light setup and I think it’s self-explanatory. Cca 45 degrees angle.

 

I’m using two Vivitar285HV strobes. Those are simple manual strobes with decent power. Triggering it with  old but reliable Elinchrom Skyport radio triggers.

Here are some photos of my small grid that I made from a piece of cardboard and few black straws. 

DIY grid

mounted on a Vivitar285HV

hard fall off

On the last image, strobe was set some 1.5 meters from the wall. 

Long live XPro1… welcome XPro2

It is that time of year when I don’t do anything about my blog/portfolio/self-promotion… As I did for past 400 days. But being the best Fuji X photographer in Bosnia (I’ll explain this later) bring some responsibility to all three of my readers to say something about what I did in past few hundred days.

Let’s start with frustration…
Feeds on my humble  social networking presence are overwhelmed with new Fuji gear, orgasmic reviews and pixel peeping comparisons. And… I like to read them all. To be honest… some of them for several times. And yes… I’m an XPro1 user… there is a new XPro2… and I need one more camera body… aaaaand it would be great to  get my hands on it… aaaaaaaaand no… my incomes are just no match to it…. Too bad, since I believe we would be a great match.

So… I decided to run one more story about how good my current camera is and to cover last year with some shots since I haven’t put even a word on my blog for more then a year. I wrote some initial thoughts on Fuji XPro1 two years ago here.

Confession…

You can call me whatever you like… hobbyist, enthusiast, amateur… Photography is a part of my life for more then a half of it (and I’m 36) so you do the math. Occasionally, I do get some paid jobs or some paid assignments but it is impossible to make a living out of it (I have other job which pays my mortgage, taxes, food, gas, kindergarten, some cigarettes, shoes and clothes from time to time…). Ok, my wife has a job too… ok,…. we have a decent life here but… still… as I said… incomes are insufficient when it comes to gear renewal. Last time I did it, I sold out all of my gear that I had and with  some additional savings I managed to purchase a new camera. Why? Because of the mileage of my previous one, because I wanted something lighter and because I needed something more technologically advanced. So I ended up with Fuji XPro1 and it was love at first sight and it still is.

XPro1 is ok but not on par with industry leaders? 

I was slicing my brains out to find some downsides and to make myself more criticizing about it… but without success. Yes… there are some stuff that DSLR purists will say that are more then a good reason to run away from it… (slow focusing, slow sync speed, precision-less OVF, etc.) but at the end… you just get used to it and start to love all the things that you made together. XPro1 is a great companion in every situation you can imagine yourself. At the time Fuji decided to upgrade their flagship model, you don’t feel cheated as most people do when some new technology comes out. At Fujis, new is good but the old one is still keeping up. This is not a praise to  Japan company (I do believe that they are no different than any other in terms of profitability and moneymaking business). Just want to point out that they did a great job back in 2012. On the other side I do think that models like XM1 or XA1 were unnecessary but hey… I’m not a business expert. I still think XPro1 is on par with most newer models made by competition. I have experience with most of them (Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic…) so my subjective opinion is based on usage and not on web reviews.

How I became THE BEST…

Very simple. You would think that I will probably tell you a story of how hard I was working on building my portfolio, shooting endless assignments, shooting days and nights until my finger cramp… and it is the common story of many of my fellow best photographers around the world, but not in my case.

I just bought the camera no one did in my country… so immediately I became the best X photographer in Bosnia (I’m pretty sure that I’m still the best around here or there are just a few best of us). So… being the BEST here, it gives me the right to ask some sample equipment to test it out from Fuji. Just point me at nearest camera store to pick it up. O wait… there is no camera stores around here. Ok… I’ll talk to your representatives in my country and try to convince them. O shit… yes… you don’t have it here.

My point is that Bosnia is not a market that is interesting not only to Fuji but to many other camera companies. But it would be great at least to have one specialized camera store here where one could go and test some equipment or maybe to rent it and at the end, to buy it. So… all of you dontknowwheretoinvestmymoney people, come to Bosnia, open a camera store and in some short time… you will loose everything, but hey… you’ll have a chance to become THE BEST camera store here ever. 😉

Ok… I lost it a bit. This post could easily become a sobbing confession of how hard life is around here… and how we have crappy politics… and how system of value is distorted and blah, blah,blah….

Enough…

Ok… enough with story without any point. Long story short… XPro1 is still a great piece of gear. Since I’m in a process of thinking about additional camera body – it would be great to have a new XPro2 as a main camera but hey… I would be pretty much satisfied with another XPro1 body too. Good ergonomics, decent AF speed (no missing shots in 99%), decent high ISO output (at my standards, even ISO6400 is usable in some situations), good weight-shoulder ratio, 16MP sensor can give a print output of 70x55cm easily… do anyone need more?

Let me show you some images I did recently…

Motion

I love slow shutter speeds and how you can create surreal images in some simple and common situations and I noticed that when ever I shoot, no matter what, assignment or personal work… I always do a few slow shutter images.

Featured

If you went through my blog archives , you would notice that my work is often based around theatre. Also, I do follow some extreme sport clubs in region so you could find some xsports features… extreme climbing and uphill cycling. I do also a wedding photography from time to time but rarely. I’m an official photographer for Tourist organization of city of Prijedor since this year.

 

Portraits

I do consider myself a portrait photographer so here are some of the most recent I’m still working on for Prijedor city theater. They asked me to do some formal portraits of ensemble and I did it. But somehow, wasn’t very satisfied with it so I proposed a bit different approach. Idea is to show a theater that is not visible to majority of people. Old depots, hidden tunnels over the main hall, wardrobes, workshops, etc. And all of thatin form of a portrait. So… this is the result

If somehow you made it to this part of my blog post, I hope it was pretty much clear how XPro1 is more then a capable camera. Sports, weddings, documentary,off camera flash… you name it. Essentially, it is not up to camera… It depends on your imagination and preparation. Any camera would be as good as this one only…. you are makeing a relationship with any camera you are using and… I just think that XPro1 is more then any other generic model (no matter if a lot of them are technically superior) on a market. All the benefits combined with negative issues are creating a unique experience upon no one can be left indifferent.  Long live XPro1… welcome XPro2!!!

Fuji and Mr. Action

Third Kozara MTB marathon took place yesterday organized by Austronet-procycling club from Prijedor who commissioned me to cover it. I was a bit nervous knowing the limitations of my equipment and on edge to borrow some different camera just in case. But… I didn’t. I decided to try out my Fuji and to find out how big are my own limitations. Anybody who ever tried to shoot with Fuji X-Pro 1 had to notice it’s superb quality but in the same time it’s lame AF performance. Fuji did a great thing by upgrading camera firmware constantly but still… X-Pro1 isn’t made for action and sports photography. Or maybe it is…? I’m quite satisfied with the final result. I relied on a well known recipe: scout a few locations few hours before the start, calculate your time well, get out of the way, set some lights, make test shots, PREFOCUS (this was the most important part), and wait. One cyclist – one shot. I didn’t used burst mode. So, the final result is here. 1 camera (Fuji X-Pro1), 1 lens (23mm – or 35mm if you like) and 1 strobe (Vivitar 285HV – just on one location).

Veso Arežina – Taekwondo Hall of Fame

Veso is a long time taekwondo fighter and trainer from Prijedor with remarkable results from whole over the world who recently got an information that he is selected for the Taekwondo Hall of Fame in Las Vegas (USA). Ceremony will take place in mid October this year and Veso asked me if I could help him with promotional campaign. So I did a few shots of him and gave him a proposal of billboards. Veso Arežina is first person ever from Bosnia and Herzegovina who got nominated and selected for Hall of Fame.

taekwondo master

taekwondo master

taekwondo master from Prijedor

taekwondo master

taekwondo master from Bosnia and Herzegovina

Human panorama

I made this for graduated students of High music school (where I work) in my hometown. Idea was to present them in cinema-like manner and of course to break that boring tradition of presenting graduate students like they were escaped from communism posters presenting best workers at labor day celebration, with waxy cleaned faces.

This is panorama shot, made of 7 images (portrait orientation). They were standing as on the final image only I was moving in a straight line. Light is one small strobe with Lumiquest softbox attached. Camera was Panasonic Lumix GF1.

Final image:

 

Final poster:

 

 

 

Mišo and Jelena portraits

Mišo and Jelena are my friends who had a wedding last Saturday and even I’m avoiding to do any kind of wedding photography, I accepted their kind request to take some portraits of them. A lot of people asked me why I don’t do weddings and I’m always trying to explain how I don’t think wedding photography is below my standards. It is just a thing I’m not “drawn” in to.

Wedding photography (I linked to a place where you will find great photographers and mostly wedding photogs) is a serious job when you are doing it right, and in my humble opinion, it is too much subordinated to a client. I don’t like tilted photos, or soft focus on brides face, or  obligatory shots of ring in pair or with a flowers in background, etc. But client has rights to ask for that kind of photos and probably every serious photographer will try to comply with it within his/her style. I’m not ready for that kind of compromise and that is the main reason why I’m not doing wedding photography and chances to start to do it are really tiny (never say never).

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For the technical part – no fancy staff. One Vivitar 285HV strobe on a stand with shot through umbrella (cheap Chinese one – 1€ aprox. 🙂 ).

Some commercial work

It was a while since I wrote or post something on my blog. The main reason was that I was contacted by one of the major mobile operators in BiH and asked for a proposition portfolio and for new ideas that they could use on their web site (mobile section, standard telephony, television on demand and internet section). They gave me a month to do it and I completed a small portfolio of 20 images that I sent them few weeks ago. I made some standard commercial shots that are usual for mobile operators as well as some more bold, provoking and humorous images.

Unfortunately, nobody from the company didn’t contacted me since. I tried to get some informations about it but without success.

I would like to thank to my friends and my awesome wife who helped me a lot organizing and executing these shots (with no budget at all). Many thanks to Goran, Tijana, Đurđa, Nikola, Tanja, Lala and Dragana.

Images are cut in a format needed for mobile operator’s web site.

P.S. Sorry for the big watermark.

Tatoo album art

Last night, I had a photo session with TATOO band from Prijedor. They asked me to shoot some photos for their upcoming album “Digitalni Snovi” (Digital Dreams). Thanks for the courtesy of people from shopping mall “Wisa” from Prijedor who allowed us to use their space after closing.
Here is the result:

What do you think, which one is the best? 1,2 or no.3? Maybe it will be an album cover so that is the reason of square format.

Concerning a technique, it is very simple. One treadmill stairs at a shopping mall and a small strobe handheld. Exposure of 8 sec. and that’s it. Post production is minimal too. Enhancing the contrast and color. That’s for first three images.
The rest are done in underground parking lot and with available neon light.

Here is Tatoo’s first video from their new album:

An interview and scenes from exhibition opening

Scenes from exhibition opening in August 2010 and interview for the Art Scene program of Center for creative industry.

GitarFest Banja Luka 2010 poster

Like last year, again I did a promo poster for upcoming GitarFest Banja Luka 2010 – international festival of classical guitar. This is version that goes to designer who will put rest of the informations on it. You will be able to see final result in a few days on GF website.

City portrait #25 – Srđan Vasić

I don’t know much about Srđan and I met him just a few days ago for the first time. But, there is an interesting story about Srđan and me. While I was working out of my hometown I was traveling by a car. Almost every day I was passing him running next to the main road that is entering the city. And so on… I was thinking for my self… what a fool this guy is (probably some of the international stabilization forces soldier) ’cause he is running through city center and he has all this beautiful nature around the town. Just a few days ago I found out that he is no foreigner and every time I met him in urban part, he was running from the mountain back to his home. And then I also found out that he is a free climber, that traveling by a bicycle for several hundreds of kilometers is no problem for him. And then… I realized… what a fool am I.
Don’t let the prejudice to guide you in your conclusions.

City portrait #24 – Nikola Bogdanović

Nikola is a young graphic designer from Prijedor, BiH, who caught my attention few years ago with his set of lamps that he made out of trash and industry remnants. His work is extraordinary and very creative so I decided to by some of it.
Concerning this portrait, I had a big dilemma how to show his inspiration by light. So… we tried several times but I was not satisfied with the result and finally, yesterday it just hit me and we did it in a few minutes.
Here is the result:

And one of our earlier attempts: